LibGuides: ENGL 4691: Black American Literature: Find Articles

About Databases

Databases are extremely useful tools for finding peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as scholarly essays and chapters in eBooks.

Not sure which database to use?

Try a key database (below)
Search in OneSearch, and pay attention to which databases it links you to. If one database keeps showing up for your searches (e.g., JSTOR), try searching it directly.
Read the database titles and descriptions. Most are specific to material type (e.g., articles, chapters), disciplines (e.g., Literature) or broad areas (e.g., Humanities).
Ask your Librarian (email is best) or Professor!

Search Strategies for English Majors A 2-page PDF that provides search tips for English Majors.

Useful Databases for Black American Literature

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Indexes articles in literature, language, folklore, and linguistics - over 4,000 U.S. and international journals.
Coverage: 1880s to present

The MLA Bibliography contains detailed bibliographic information on scholarly publications from around the world and across a broad range of topics, including
- Literature from any country and in any language
- Literary theory and criticism
- Dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater)
- Folklore
- Linguistics
- College-level teaching of language, literature, and rhetoric and composition
- History of printing and publishing
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Offers interdisciplinary content including approximately 2,600 academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials.
On occasions, you may encounter problems opening PDFs. The reason for this to happen is most likely due to the time out error. This could be due to a slow internet connection or a large download size. Many times, articles with images contained in them will time out the download.
To resolve this, right click on the link "Proceed to PDF" and select "Save Target As..." (or "Save Link as..." for Firefox). This will allow you to save the PDF to your computer and should allow for a faster, more successful download.
If the problem persists, check the PDF Help Page at JSTOR
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
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Provide access to full-text scholarly journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences with over 120 publishers currently participating.
View the List of Journals Covered
America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
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Covers history of the United States and Canada from 1493. It indexes over 1,800 journals and Ph.D. dissertations including book reviews. Its Clio Notes provide guides on key topics in United States history and allow you to browse through chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes from the Colonization of America to the 21st Century.
Coverage: 1895-present
Gale Literature This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to Gale Literature including Resource Center, Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Criticism and LitFinder. The database brings together these literary databases allowing searching across these resources.
- Contemporary Authors Online
- Dictionary of Literary Biography
- Literature Criticism Online

Broad Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Provides over 20,000 indexed and abstracted journals including 6,600 full-text journals and magazines, nearly 6,000 peer-reviewed journals. PDF content dating back to 1887.
To see which titles are available in full-text, as well as the names of all titles indexed and abstracted, check the EBSCOhost Database Coverage List and Title List by Subject . Updated daily.
Humanities Full-Text This link opens in a new window
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Art, film, music, world literature, philosophy, religion, and more - about 400 English-language periodicals.
1995 to date. Updated monthly.

Statistics & Misc

Statista Pro This link opens in a new window
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Statista is a statistics portal that provides statistics and data on over 1 million statistics and facts from more than 10,000 different sources including agriculture, advertising, health, hospitality, consumer goods, and much more. The content is geared towards business and marketing statistical needs, with a focus on current statistics.
World Bank (The) This link opens in a new window
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The World Bank web site offers a wide variety of economic, health and population statistics from around the globe. It covers international trade statistics, economic development data and country information.

Ethnic Studies Databases

Ethnic Diversity Source Database This link opens in a new window
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EBSCO Ethnic Diversity Source Database is a full-text database covering the culture, traditions, social treatment, and lived experiences of different ethnic groups in America. It provides full text from a growing list of sources including peer-reviewed journals, magazines, e-books, biographies, and primary source documents.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
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Covers news, culture and history of ethnic and minority issues (English/Espanol) in over 200 publications, minority and native press publications, including newspapers, magazines and journals.
Articles written by and about various ethnic groups in the United States including Latinos/Hispanic, African/Caribbean, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Native American, Eastern European, and Asian American.
Anthropology Online This link opens in a new window
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Anthropology Online brings together a wide range of published ethnographies, seminal texts, memoirs, contemporary studies and archival material covering human culture and behavior around the world.

University Library

ENGL 4691: Black American Literature

About Databases

Useful Databases for Black American Literature

Broad Databases

Statistics & Misc

Ethnic Studies Databases